National intangible cultural heritage 'Hue Nam Palace Festival'

Received the title of National Intangible Cultural Heritage "Hue Nam Temple Festival".

Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City Phan Thanh Hai said that, through many historical ups and downs, the Hue Nam Temple Festival is still held according to traditional rituals imbued with the identity of Vietnamese folk culture. This is also an occasion for the beauty of the practice of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship (an intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO) to be uniquely expressed. Hue is honored and proud to have another heritage included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. This is a common heritage of the community, held by the community and joined hands to protect and promote sustainable values. In the coming time, Hue City will be determined to preserve, promote and further spread the value of the National Intangible Heritage: "Hue Nam Temple Festival" in the context of contemporary society.

The Hue Nam Temple Traditional Festival (commonly known as Hon Chen Temple) is held at the main location of Hue Nam Temple, located in Hai Cat village, Long Ho ward, Hue city. This is a folk festival but blends the unique royal cultural elements of Hue. Through a long process of formation and development, the festival has increasingly attracted a large number of people and tourists from all over the country to participate. In the early stages, the festival only took place within Hue Nam Temple, later with the participation of Hai Cat villagers and gradually became widely popular among the people. Today, the Hue Nam Temple Traditional Festival carries the characteristics of the Holy disciples worshipping the Mother Goddess in Vietnam, becoming a typical cultural product of Hue land and spreading strongly to many regions in the country.

Ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the Council of Four Palaces by road.

The festival is held regularly twice a year in the third and seventh lunar months. The festival's important forms include the welcoming ceremony of the Holy Mother and the deities at the 352 Chi Lang Temple through the procession by road and waterway, the Cao Nieu ceremony, the Chanh Te ceremony at Hue Nam Temple and Hai Cat communal house; religious activities, and the performance of the Hau Dong ceremony on the altars. This traditional festival has brought people closer together, contributing to building an advanced Vietnamese culture with a strong national identity.

The Hue Nam Temple Festival is still held twice a year in the third and seventh lunar months.

The Hue Nam Temple Festival is a form of cultural and folk belief activity, aiming to satisfy spiritual and cultural needs and contribute to enriching the local cultural life. The festival is a manifestation of people's faith in the spiritual space, to express the morality of "remembering the source of drinking water", the admiration for the gods through specific gratitude activities, creating a means of connecting people with supernatural powers. Accordingly, rituals such as the ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the deities, the announcement ceremony, the main ceremony, the spirit mediumship as well as the offerings that people offer to the Holy Mother are products made by themselves from farming, raising animals or fishing, etc. are vivid evidence of the respect of the holy disciples for the gods. Through the festival, the boundary between the gods and the mortals is brought closer together.

Through many historical ups and downs, the Hue Nam temple festival is still held according to traditional rituals imbued with Vietnamese folk culture.

Forms such as traditional ceremonies, Mother Goddess processions, singing, and spirit mediumship performed in the Hue Nam Temple Festival are considered a living museum preserving history and culture over time. It is a treasure trove of legends and myths associated with the Mother Goddesses and deities in the Mother Goddess worship belief; it is a living environment for forms of ceremonies, performances with music, singing and dancing, forms, decorations, human concepts, cuisine, and traditional dress of the Vietnamese people. With its unique values, on December 10, 2024, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 3981/QD-BVHTTDL to include the traditional festival "Hue Nam Temple Festival" in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/van-hoa/di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-quoc-gia-le-hoi-dien-hue-nam-20250330111418568.htm